Curated OER
Will There Be Subsistence Farmers in the 21st Century?: Feeding the World
Students examine the topic of subsistence farming. They research the future of subsistence agriculture, identify the types and locations of subsistence agriculture, and write about subsistence farming in regards to developing nations and...
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Marketing to Teens: Parody Ads
High schoolers deconstruct advertising messages by analyzing parody ads and exploring the purpose of satire. Then they create their own parodies based on real ads discussed in class. A creative activity to extend any study of media,...
Moanalua Gardens Foundation
The Mystery of Rapa Nui
What caused the collapse of the environment on Rapa Nui (Easter Island)? Who constructed the Moai? What was their purpose? Class members assume the role of investigators and use evidence drawn from field studies, ships' logs, and...
Oklahoma Bar Association
Into Which Caste Have You Been Cast?: India's Caste System
What was it like to fit into a certain class with no choice in the matter? Learners experience the caste system in a role-play activity, work individually on handouts to enhance their learning, and participate in an evaluation activity...
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Children's Books
Students explore daily dilemmas students face. They write and illustrate a story book dealing with one dilemma. Students write reviews of their books. They read their books to second grade students. Additional cross curriculum activities...
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Spooky Story
Second graders write a Halloween story. In this combined technology and writing lesson, 2nd graders create a Halloween picture using KidPix, insert it into Microsoft Word, and then write a story to correspond with the picture.
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Native American and Colonial Literature Debate
Students compare the tone, purpose, point of view, etc. of traditional Native American poems and creation myths to traditional Colonial American literature. they debate which is the right way of thinking/living.
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Computer Olympics
Learners compete to achieve excellence in math facts, writing terms, problem solving, and writing skills on the computer. In this Computer Olympics lesson plan, students practice the skill of drill and practice in order to succeed and...
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The "Real" Fairy Tales
Students write a Fairy Tale from the point of view of the "bad guy".
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Making a Treasure Your Own: Lesson Two
Students write an essay describing the Curtis Center and what they learned there. For this descriptive writing essay, students discuss the five paragraph essay and review sensory discoveries from their trip. Students draft an outline and...
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How Logical is Garfield?
Third graders analyze comics found in the newspaper for samples of logical, emotional, and ethical appeal. They write a paragraph for each selected comic strip explaining how the comic strip represents the use of logic, emotions, or ethics.
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Author Background/Investigation
Students research an Accelerated Reader author and write a two page report summarizing relevant information about the author. They include personal data, professional data, and at least one quote from someone who has read one of the...
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Wanted: New Authors!
Eighth graders write a short autobiographical sketch and produce an author page to be used throughout the year with their writing. They take digital camera photos and produce a PowerPoint slide show with their photos and information.
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Writing with Style: Six Traits of Good Writers
Fourth graders listen as the teacher reads a picture book that emphasized word choice. They discuss words and how word choice impacts a piece of writing. Students view various passages on the overhead, and highlight adjectives and verbs...
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Autobiographical Writing
Second graders explore, examine and study the style of autobiographical writing and the relationship with the author. They rad three different types of autobiographical writings: narrative, poetry and newspaper article. Each student...
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Write to Read
Students discover how to write to improve their reading skills. In groups, they take pictures of a variety of school events and compile them into a PowerPoint presentation. To end the lesson, they add a narration to the slides and share...
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Everyone's an Author
Students examine variety of written pieces of quality fiction, discuss what different story elements are present and how those elements make stories as effective as they are, and create a class story.
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A Multigenerational Pen Pal Program
Students discover the benefits of writing letters to multigenerational pen pals. For this pen pal lesson, students identify a need for communication among the generations. Students begin a pen pal program with the elders in the...
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"I Don't Pay Attention to Advertisements? (At least I don't think so?)"
Sixth graders study eight persuasive techniques that occur in a variety of media types. They write a persuasive essay and present it to the class. They create a "new product" for which they produce an advertisement using persuasive...
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Touring the World With Tomie dePaola
Students listen aloud to books by Tomie dePaola. They utilize the Internet to study the geography and culture of the places the they read about in Tomie dePaola's books. They answer questions about Norway through an Internet treasure hunt.
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The Lorax Explorations
Middle schoolers read and debate the purpose of Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, analyze its story elements, and write their own The Lorax II.
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Cameras and Careers
Applying photography basics they learn for this project, first graders take pictures of an adult at work focusing on the tools used, the work site, and job responsibilities. After making a career book that includes photos and...
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Publishing a Book Review
Pairs use desktop publishing software, as well as digital video and camera equipment, to craft a book review. These reviews are then shared with others in the school community through the class or school website.
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Connotation: "My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke
What's happening in this poem? Have your high schoolers participate in an activity about connotation and denotation. They apply the concept of connotation to a reading of Theodore Roethke's poem "My Papa's Waltz." Lead a discussion about...